Rebuilding Place in the Urban Space

"A community’s physical form, rather than its land uses, is its most intrinsic and enduring characteristic." [Katz, EPA] This blog focuses on place and placemaking and all that makes it work--historic preservation, urban design, transportation, asset-based community development, arts & cultural development, commercial district revitalization, tourism & destination development, and quality of life advocacy--along with doses of civic engagement and good governance watchdogging.

Thursday, February 28, 2008

Comfortable in public

A couple kisses on Kiev's Bridge of Lovers on Valentine's Day
A couple kisses on Kiev's Bridge of Lovers on Valentine's Day February 14, 2008.REUTERS/Konstantin Chernichkin (UKRAINE)

Fred Kent of the Project for Public Spaces says people show affection in places where they are comfortable. While it is true that "affectionate" people can be affectionate in a wide variety of places, comfortability matters.

A number of articles discuss how the presence of women is an indicator of comfort and safety in public spaces. See:

-- Great architecture, clean streets, culture -- it must be Minneapolis (San Francisco Chronicle)
-- Cycle City? Sacramento streets gearing up for cruisers and commuters (Sacramento Bee, registration required)
-- Splendor in the Grass (New York Times)

Travel Trip Bryant Park Journal
A woman takes a break amid the snowy tables and chairs in Bryant Park in New York in this Feb.13, 2006 file photo. The land that Bryant Park sits upon has had many lives, at one time even being used as a potter's field. And the land, as a park, has gone through many changes as well, sadly reaching a low point about two decades ago when it was taken over by drug dealers and vagrants, before a crackdown and cleanup.(AP Photo/Shiho Fukada, File)

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